Fredmertz51

I went to the hardware store and got Grade 8 bolts 1/8" longer to make up for the added thickness of the rack and washers, also used blue loctite.

Pepper Grinder

Anybody know of anything similar for those of us with road bikes that have no cantilever bosses?

CliftonGK1

https://www.rivbike.com/products/list...product=20-020

Nitto mini-front. 'spensive, but should do the trick. Check the compatibility with caliper brakes though, since it does mount through the crown bolt hole.

HauntedMyst

I love the Nashbar rack and have put one on all my bikes for the past few years.

evblazer

Just Broke mine
Just added my "amber' el-wire. ok it's orange
Put the 8AA batteries in the nashbar front rack and after about 47 miles or so snap goes the center piece of metal that was holding it to the crown/fender bolt hole.
At least it looked pretty for a little bit


Thankfully my fender kept the tire from ripping the dinotte off of the bottom of the nashbar rack since i was moving at a pretty good clip when it snapped. I was only about 2 miles from home with some x-mas gifts so I just zip tied the rack to my caliper so I could slowly ride home.

Total weight in nashbar rack/bag
12AA batteries (8AA are new for the El-Wire)
2 Speedplay Zero rubber cleat covers
Key to my krypto lock

I have put my arm warmers and spare glasses in there but hardly alot of weight. I had to slightly bend the mount to get it around my cantis/fender to bolt it on which may have caused it to age prematurely (overall probably just less then 1,000 miles on it)

Cody Broken

Dang rack is $5.99 right now! Could it be more tempting?

https://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?c...cat%3A%20Racks

evblazer

Now if they had free shipping it'd be cheaper for me to get a new one then to fix the mount on my current broken one Of course it broken once already why would I think it wouldnt' just break again *shrug*

Patch29

I ordered two a couple days ago, they showed up today. I am impressed with the build quality for $5.99.


Now if I can only figure how to install them? I have old canti's on my utility bike and the mounting point will get in the way of the brakes and the front fork is drilled on the back, but not the front. I think I have an old pair of AVID Shorty 4s that I can swap out, then get out the drill if I need it.

CliftonGK1

I can't believe how many people have problems with the crown mount snapping! For real, the weight limit is 15 pounds, and I've put over 20 pounds on that rack and rode home over kinda choppy roads without so much as a loose bolt.

bigbenaugust 

Mine was also bent in a funny direction, so that probably contributed to mine breaking. I just custom-fabricated another one (Dremel + drill + hammer = win) from a similar part from an old Topeak rear rack (I kid you not, it's 1/8" thick) and it's as sturdy as it should have been in the first place. I strapped my backpack to it one time, other than that, it's always been tools/tube/pump/lock/jacket in a bag on the rack.

Bolo Grubb

anyone have a picture of this bag on the bike?

Bolo Grubb

Well my center mounting bracket just broke. I haven't even carried anything on the rack yet.




So the center bracket is definately the weak point. Again I have not carried anything on it and have maybe 200 miles on the bike since I put the rack on. Just been commuting on city streets.

Now the question what do I use to fix it?

CliftonGK1

Cray-zee-ness!

I've carried so much more than the suggested 15 pounds on mine and I haven't had any problems with that bracket piece.

Since everyone has so many issues with it, here's the solution:

Bring that busted metal strip to Home Depot or your LHS (Local Hardware Store)
Ask a clerk where you can get something similar, but heavier-duty. It's basically a 1" x 8" strip of metal with a slot, a hole, and a 90 degree bend.
Get a metal-drilling bit for your drill (hopefully you have a drill already.)

Use a table vice and hammer to make the 90 degree bend for the crown mount.
Drill the hole for the crown bolt.
Install the strip and bend appropriately to fit the rack.
Use a sharpie marker to mark the location for rack mounting bolt holes.
Remove the strip from the bike and drill the mounting holes.
Re-install.

Bolo Grubb

Good idea CliftonGK1, I will take a trip to Home Depot and see what I can find.

JeffB502

A little late but here you go...

bigbenaugust 

See, I fixed my crown mount with more manly steel... and then one morning a few weeks ago the weld that held the deck onto the aluminum tubing at the front snapped. So I no longer have my Nashbar Front Rack.

CliftonGK1

Do you guys use this rack as a hang-point when storing your bike in the garage?

I carry more than the suggested amount, I've moved it between 2 bikes so I've had to re-bend that crown mounting metal strip, and I often bungee from the front of the rack up over my handlebars and hook to my stem (to hold grocery bags on the rack) which puts a ton of pull stress on the front of the rack.
The only problem I've had was that the reflector tab broke (but, I admit to using it as a headlight mount, so that was part of the problem.)

Old Dirt Hill

This happened to mine awhile back and I fixed it by using a heavy-duty black zip tie through that hole in the front. I insulated the rack from the tubing with a small piece of weatherstripping and it worked great. I can find pictures if needed.

CliftonGK1

*bump*

After thinking about the cost of the rack, I realized that a $59.00 decaleur was pretty pointless for mounting my $19.95 handlebar bag on my $7.00 rack. Sure, if I had a Nitto M-12 rack and a Berthoud bag, the cost would be warranted.
For my Nashbar special, I went the other route: A $0.49 joiner plate, a $0.69 sack of #6 machine screws with nuts, and a $0.38 sack of matching washers. I already had some PVC pipe and deck screws around my apartment.

- I bent the joiner plate around the PVC pipe (cut to length to mount the h'bar bag bracket.)
- Deck screws hold the PVC pipe to the joiner plate (I'll repace them with appropriate machine screws for cosmetic reasons, but the deck screws work fine for now.)
- I measured and marked the 3 best nail holes on the joiner plate against the back plate of the rack.
- Drilled the 3 holes, and mounted the joiner plate become decaleur to the rack.
- A short bungee attaches at the shoulder-strap buckles of the bag and goes under the rack to stabilize it from bouncing.